1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawing-information processing apparatus and a drawing-information processing method, and, in particular, to a drawing-information processing apparatus and a drawing-information processing method by which line drawings and so forth can be drawn in longhand.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as applications for a computer, there are drawing programs for inputting line drawings by using input devices such as a mouse, a stylus pen of a digitizer, and so forth.
When a line drawing is input by using a mouse through such a drawing program, as a result of the mouse being moved with it being dragged, a line segment corresponding to a thus-obtained movement track of the mouse is drawn.
By using such a sort of drawing program, it is possible to change attributes of a line such as a thickness, a color, a shape, and so forth. In the related art, operation of changing these attributes is performed after the inputting operation through the inputting device is interrupted. For example, when the inputting device is a mouse, a state of dragging of the mouse is canceled, and, by clicking a desired attribute button from among previously set buttons for changing the attributes displayed on a display screen, it is possible to change the attribute of drawing. When the inputting device is a stylus pen, a contact (tap) between the stylus pen and a pad is cancelled, and, then, by tapping a desired attribute button from among previously set buttons for changing the attributes on a display screen, it is possible to change the attribute of drawing. Then, the inputting operation is again started from the point at which it is interrupted as mentioned above.
As described above, when an attribute of drawing is changed while drawing information is input by using a mouse or a stylus pen which is an inputting device, it is necessary to once interrupt the input of the drawing information, and, then, perform operation of changing the attribute. When inputting of drawing information is restarted after being interrupted once as mentioned above, it is necessary to make a position of the pointer coincident with the position at which the inputting of the drawing information was interrupted. Accordingly, a time is required for restarting inputting of drawing information from that position, and, thereby, the efficiency of drawing-information processing is degraded. Further, it may not be possible to restart at the precise position, and, thereby, the functionality of drawing-information processing is degraded.